WINDSOR, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - July 9, 2010) - Almost half of Windsor residents don't know their city is planning to privatize garbage and recycling services, and many have serious misgivings about the plan now set for a July 12 vote by City Council, according to a new Angus Reid poll, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario President Fred Hahn announced today.

"Slow down and think twice" is one of the messages from this poll which shows that 48% of Windsor residents are not aware that the city may be about to lose an important public service, a service with which three-quarters of its residents (76%) are also satisfied," Hahn said.

Highlights of the on-line poll of Windsor residents conducted June 29 to July 5 include:

48% of residents are not aware that the city has discussed privatizing services.

76% are satisfied with current service for garbage and recycling provided by public employees.

A majority (63%) don't trust private operators to keep costs down after they win the contract.

77% believe that privatization of garbage and recycling is "just the tip of the iceberg for this City Council which wants to privatize many other services."

More than a third of Windsor residents (37%) would be less likely to vote for a candidate for City Council who supported contracting-out or privatizing garbage and recycling.

A third of Windsor residents (33%) would accept a tax increase if one were needed to maintain the current level of city services, while only 24% would accept service cuts to avoid a tax increase.

From June 29 to July 5, 2010, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 402 randomly selected adults who are from Windsor. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 4.9%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Windsor. Discrepancies in, or between, totals are due to rounding.

CUPE represents 230,000 workers in Ontario, including the members of CUPE Local 82 in Windsor who carry out waste collection and recycling in the city.